USB booting :: Formatting HD after penboot

in any filesystem created under somewhat normal un*x conditions the access rights for the root directory itself ("/.") are "rwxr-xr-x root root".

if you want to use the root directory itself for "normal user" storage (as you tried to), open a root shell and type

chmod 777 /mnt/hda1

while the disk is already mounted.

So even though this system is booting from a pen drive, the root of the filesystem is still hda1?

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So even though this system is booting from a pen drive, the root of the filesystem is still hda1?

No! He just meant the root directory of hda1, which is in /mnt/hda1.

original here.